An Initial Assessment of Cooperative Action in Wi-Fi Networking

In the development of past infrastructures, cooperative and amateur action has been a vehicle for diffusion, experimentation, innovation, popularization, and the provision of new features or services. 802.11 (“Wi-Fi”) cooperatives are now proliferating. This user study considers three cases of cooperative action in the discovery, development, and provision of 802.11 (Wi-Fi) networks: (1) mapping and “Warchalking,” (2) open-source portal software, and (3) the provision of service as an alternative to paying for a commercial subscription. It finds that these co-ops exist primarily to build elite expertise, but that it may be possible to direct these skillful groups toward societal goals. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS François Bar, Hernan Galperin, Robert Cannon, Anne Hoag, and the journal’s anonymous reviewers provided valuable comments on this article. Monroe Price and Philip Howard provided the materials, location, and encouragement for the construction of Consume node “SpeakersCorner.” Claire Charbit kindly shared interview transcripts from her own research. Paul David and the participants in the Bellagio Conference on Public Values, System Design, and the Public Domain contributed essential ideas to the overall project. The UK portion of this research was made possible by a visiting fellowship from the Oxford Internet Institute, Oxford University. This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. IIS-0308269.